Friday, November 14, 2008

My super serious, super coherent reaction to the Melrose firing can be seen, read and smelled (minty fresh!) over at Fanhouse. While I hate to deprive you of non-stop coverage of the event, similar to every major cable news network's coverage of the 2008 Presidential Election, super serious just doesn't happen around here. It's how I stay level. Or Zen. Something like that.

I've got a couple thoughts that I would like to share with you fine folks on the issue, and of course, you're always welcome to add your own in the comments.

This had more to do with things going on behind the scenes than the Bolts record. I know what you're going to say, this is the NHL and teams are quick to the trigger. Well, yes, but this case is different. These are new owners and this was Their Guy. They picked him before they even gained official ownership of the organization. Unless they're completely insane, which I guess is theoretically possible considering everything, there's no way they can fire Their Guy five weeks into the season. Unless the team is somehow out of playoff contention, you cannot possibly give someone five weeks to get things going. That's not to mention that this is a guy who hadn't coached in over a decade.

I'm not being a homer about this. I promise. I could care less if Barry was Bolts coach. I'd rather watch him on ESPN than Sun Sports any day.

If, somehow, I happen to be correct about #1 then what the heck did Barry do/say behind the scenes to get axed? We need to know. Blackjack and hooker party for whoever can shed some light on this.

OK, you're right, Barry simply may not have had it. From openly criticizing his star players from the get go, to the rumblings that he didn't have 'it' anymore, this probably isn't a guy that can coach in the NHL. But, there's one caveat:

No matter how many off-season acquisitions this team made, they still were not leaps and bounds better than last year's edition on paper. Sure, the forwards are an elite group on this team on paper, but in reality they haven't been playing like it. Roberts and Malone are doing next to nothing and Mark Recchi is their second leading scorer. The same Mark Recchi who was given up for dead by the Penguins last year.

Hastily trading away Carle, O'Brien and Ouellet like they were bad mortgages didn't help a an already craptastic defense that has given up the most power play goals in the league. How Lukas Krajicek and Steve Eminger were supposed to fix that is beyond me. Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig are acceptable in net, but they really aren't getting help from the blueliners in front of them.

That's all I've got for now. Again, if you need to read more on this as typed by yours truly -- although I can't imagine why you would -- head on over to FanHouse. There will be more on this over the weekend, as you can probably imagine.

There was a lot more to Melrose's firing then either side has has let on. He's going on the talkshow circuit trying to make himself look good but his lack of knowledge is what cost him his job and caused his players to revolt. Check out my articles on this, linked below...